Heart Healthand Brain Function

Jerry Yellin
Co-Chair, Operation
Warrior Wellness

Jerry Yellin is an 87-year-old decorated former P-51 pilot from World War Two. He landed on Iwo Jima on March 7, 1945, strafed Japanese position for the Marines and flew 19 VLR missions over Japan. He and his wife of 61 years, Helene, have four sons and six grandchildren, three who live in America and three who live in Japan.

Jerry is a member of The Military Writers Society of America and the author of three award-winning books. more

—Of War and Weddings, The Blackened Canteen and The Letter; and most recently, The Resilient Warrior—and an honorary board member of the Iwo Jima Association of America.

Ed Schloeman
Co-Chair, Operation
Warrior Wellness

Ed Schloeman is a retired Chief Master Sergeant (E-9) from the New York Air National Guard and a Vietnam Marine Disabled Veteran (Sgt) serving from 1960 to 1966. He is currently President of Fidelis Services Group, a Certified Service Disabled Veteran Owned Business.

Ed holds Life Memberships in the Enlisted Associations of New York, the United States National Guard, Marine Corps League, and the Iwo Jima Association, and is the Northeast Regional Director of The ELITE SDVOB of America. more

Some of his military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation and Achievement Medals, Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and NY State Military Commendation Medal.

Ed has been married for 48 years to Judith Ann. Their children are Catherine Syslo (CPA and homemaker), LTCol Edward Schloeman Jr, USAF ( F-15/C-5/C-17 Pilot) and NYPD Lt. Robert Schloeman.

Brian Rees, MD,
Co-Chair, Operation
Warrior Wellness

Brian Rees, Colonel (ret.) Medical Corps, US Army Reserve, has over 37 years of commissioned military service. He is a graduate of both the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College, and has had extensive experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Dr. Rees was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, where he served as the Brigade Surgeon for Task Force Guardian and as the Chief Medical Officer for the Bagram Theater Internment Facility (facility for all Taliban and Al-Qaeda detainees); in 2006, he was the head of outpatient medicine for the detainees at Abu Ghraib Prison, Iraq; he served as the Battalion Surgeon for the 310th Military Police Battalion at Camp Bucca, Iraq in 2007; in 2010 he served in Kandahar Afghanistan with the 411th Civil Affairs Battalion; he was the Battalion Surgeon for the 160th Military Police Battalion at Camp Sabalu-Harrison Afghanistan in 2012 and in 2013 he served with the 3rd Medical Command (Deployment Support) at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. more

Dr. Rees is the former commander of the 349th Combat Support Hospital in Bell (Los Angeles), California; his current non-deployed position is that of Command Surgeon, 63rd Regional Support Command, Moffett Field, California.

Dr. Rees is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion. He is a board certified family physician who received his medical degree and master’s degree in public health from Tulane University. Dr. Rees has taught the Transcendental Meditation technique and has researched both its application for the promotion of soldier resilience and the employment of technologies of consciousness for the reduction of violent conflict. Dr. Rees was the lead author of a study published in 2013 in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, documenting the remission of Posttraumatic Stress among Congolese refugees in Uganda who were taught TM.

Dr. Rees resides in California with his wife of 29 years; they have two children. His participation in Operation Warrior Wellness (OWW) is his personal choice and does not imply official endorsement of OWW by any branch of the U.S. military, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.